Journal articles are among the most frequently used sources for scholarly writing. And although there are a handful of variations in APA 7 with regard to the construction of a journal article reference, let’s take a look at how to create a basic journal article reference.

Step-by-step breakdown

When creating a reference for a Journal Article, you should try to find the following information:

• the author’s name
• the year the article was published
• the title of the article
• the title of the journal
• the volume and issue numbers of the journal
• the page numbers for the article
• Either the article’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or the article’s URL (if it has one)

Let’s build a reference for a  fictional article (from a fictional journal) as an example. Here are the details: The article, written by Gordon Franklin and Antonella V. Rossi is entitled “Sasquatch’s sobriquets:: A rose by any other name.” It was published in the journal Cryptid Quarterly in 2022, volume 12, issue 2. The article can be found on pages 24 through 39, and the DOI is 10.1000/cryptid.2022.002.

1. Author Names

Start with the authors in the same order they appear in the article – even if they’re not in alphabetical order:

Franklin, G., & Rossi, A. V.

Use this format:

• Surname first
• Initials for first and middle names
• Use an ampersand (&) before the final author
• End with a period and a single space.

If there were more than two authors, we’d still separate them each other with a comma and place a comma and ampersand before the final author.

There are a few special rules for different types of names:

• Hyphenated first names like James-Michael? Write: Brown, J.-M.
• Suffixes like “III” go at the end: Brown, J.-M., III
• Academic or professional titles (like “Dr.” or “Ph.D.”) are not included
• If two different authors have the same last name and initials, add their full first names in brackets:
  
  
  
  • Reynolds, R. [Ryan].
  • Reynolds, R. [Richard].

2. Year of Publication

Place the year of publication in parentheses, followed by a period and a space.

Example:
(2022).

Even if the article lists a more detailed date, you only need the year.

If there’s no publication date listed, write: (n.d.). It’s short for “no date.”

3. Article Title

Next comes the title of the article. This part:

• Is not italicized
• Uses sentence case – only the first word of the title, subtitle (if present), and any proper nouns are capitalized
• Ends with a period

Example:
Sasquatch’s sobriquets: A rose by any other name.

4. Journal Name

For the Journal’s name we’ll switch to italics and Title Case. For our example, that’d be:

Cryptid Quarterly,

Capitalize all major words – which is any word that isn’t a short conjunction (like and, or, or but) or a short preposition (like to, of, and for). Add a comma after the journal title and a single space.

5. Volume, Issue, and Pages

Now we’ll add the volume, issue, and page range.

• The volume number is italicized
• The issue number goes immediately after the volume in parentheses (but not italicized)
• There is no space between the volume and issue numbers
• Follow the volume and issue numbers with a comma and a space before the page numbers

For page numbers:

• Use an en dash (–) between numbers, not a hyphen (-)
• List inclusive pages (where the article starts and ends)
• If the article spans non-sequential pages (meaning it’s broken up into multiple sets of pages), list all page ranges separated by commas, like this:
  
  
  
  • 34–57, 61–65
    
    
• End with a period and a space

6. DOI or URL

You’re almost there. This is the final part of your reference.

If the article has a DOI, include it as a URL without a period at the end. You’ll start by putting “https://doi.org/” and then add the DOI number without any spaces between the parts. For DOIs and URLs, active hyperlinks are preferred, but their font color and underlining is optional.

Example:
https://doi.org/10.1000/cryptid.2022.002

If there is no DOI, use the URL of the journal article.

Example:
https://cryptidquarterlyjournal.org/2022.002

Never include both the DOI and URL – you only use one, and DOIs are always preferred.

The final result

Franklin, G., & Rossi, A. V. (2022). Sasquatch's sobriquets:: A rose by any other name. Cryptid Quarterly, 12(2), 24–39. https://doi.org/10.1000/cryptid.2022.002

Formatting a journal article reference is a bit more involved than creating a standard book reference, but once you understand each part, the process becomes much more manageable.

Creating a journal article reference using PERRLA

The easiest way to create a journal article reference with PERRLA is to simply input the article’’s DOI. PERRLA will take care of all the heavy lifting – automatically importing the reference parts and adding the properly formatted reference to your reference page with the correct italics, spacing, punctuation, and hanging indent.

No DOI? No worries! PERRLA can still create a perfect journal article reference, even those that don’t follow the standard formula. What if it’s an advance online publication? PERRLA’s got it covered. A republished journal article? PERRLA can handle that. A journal article from a database? An in-press journal article? Or, how about a translated journal article that appears in a special issue? PERRLA can handle all those and more. But don’t just take our word for it. You can try PERRLA completely free for 7 days here (no credit card required)

Until next time, good writing! In the next installment of our APA 101 series, we’ll take a look at formatting references for webpages in APA 7.

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